Livelihoods (Un)Employment and Social Safety Nets: Reflections from Recent Studies in KwaZulu-Natal

By Francie Lund on January 01, 2004

This presentation considers some methodological and substantive issues in the fields of livelihoods, unemployment and social safety nets in South Africa. Using information from two recent studies in KwaZulu-Natal it considers the different kinds of information that different methodologies yield, and it asks how confident we really are about our knowledge. The intention is not to advocate a particular approach or method, but to look at how quantitative and qualitative methods reflect on each other and how they can be used to improve each other. The intention is to emphasise the importance of different kinds of economic activity; to attempt to understand what is happening with people who work but who do not appear in official figures; and to look at ways to support people who are being missed at present by government programmes to support small and medium enterprises.

View list of all: Research Reports